How Branch & Merge Integration Takes SOLIDWORKS PDM to the Next Level

Every year SOLIDWORKS adds new features to their product lines that aim to make your job easier. This year, SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 adds Branch & Merge and Table Integration, allowing you to manage your data better than ever before.

This video outlines what these new features mean for you, as well as how you can use them today to make your production processes faster and smarter.

Exploring new design ideas is an important way to refine a design, and now with the new Branch and Merge capabilities of SOLIDWORKS PDM this task is a breeze. Regardless of its release date parts, assemblies or drawings can be branched and their structure is recognized. The destination folder can be defined as well as a prefix or suffix for the file name, and individual files can be included or excluded from the branch.

The branched file is identical to its source. Here two other branches have been created and refined. When you decide on the prefered design it can be easily merged back. SOLIDWORKS PDM recognizes the source file and merges it as a new version even if the source file was renamed or moved.

When the assembly is opened we can see that the refined design is in place. Now with the new branch and merge tool error prone copy, change and overwrite techniques are no longer needed. Tracking design changes is often done with revision tables and now the revision table has a direct integration to SOLIDWORKS PDM.

As a new revision is added notice that the revision number is indicated as an asteriks. That is because this change has not yet been approved and the revision number is controlled by SOLIDWORKS PDM. Comments can be added to the revision table but the approved field remains blank.

When the drawing is checked in all information is extracted from the drawing including the information from the revision table. After the approval process is complete, the workflow transition sets the revision number and the approval and updates all fields on the drawing, the revision table, the revision call-outs and the title block are all up-to-date.

It has never been easier to explore new design ideas with Branch and Merge and the new bi-directional communication between revision tables and PDM will make sure that everyone on the design team is up to date.